Bearing and method of manufacturing the same



Nov. 25, 1924- 1,516,914

w. H. CROFT ET AL BEARING AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME Filed March 29. 1923 Fi 1. Fig. 3 is a view,

Patented Nov. 25, 1924.

H. CROFT AND ROBERT J. SEOEHAKER, OI CHICAGO, ILLINOIS BEARING AND METHOD 0! 'MANUFACTUBING THE sum Application ma larch a, 1m. Serial no. team.

To all whom it may concern: Be itkxiown that we, WILLIAM H, Orton and ROBERT J. SHOEMAKER, citizens of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bearings and Methods of Manufacturing the Same, of which the following is a specification.

ur invention relates to bearings, and more particularly to bearings for severe and heavy service such as the bearin used in the construction of locomotive an railway car trucks.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a composite bearing element consisting of a body of tough metal having integrally united therewith a facing of a metal having lubricating roperties, which hearing element is of suc character that it may be manufactured at a relatively low cost and will be durable and capable of withstanding the wear and tear to which such devices are necessarily subjected in railroad service or in other like situations.

We have shown and will describe our invention as applied to two different types of bearing, one the bearing between the wrist pin and connecting rod of a locomotive, and

the other a journal bearing for supporting an axle journal on a car or locomotive truck.

In the drawing,

Fi 1 is a fra war end of a ocomotive connecting rod provided with a wrist pin bearing made in accordance with our invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on line 2-2 of in perspective, of one of the two bearing elements constituting the bearing shown 1n Figs. 1 and 2.

Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view on line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Fi 5 is a sectional view on line 5-5 of Flg. 4, and

. Fig. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of a truck journal bearing.

It has been usual to make the bearing elements of a locomotive wrist pin bearin of'a copper base, alloyed with tin and lea the common composition being an alloy of 80% copper, 10% tin and 10% lead.

A pair of' such bearin elements are arran ed in an openin 10 in the forward end of t e connecting r0 11 (Figs. 1 and 2) and are forced against the connecting wrist pin,

entary view of the foraccompanied by t which makes the connection between the connecting rod and cross head, by means of a wedge 12 which bears a ainst a steel block 13 interposed between 51c wedge and one of the bearing elements. The wedge is arranged in a slot in the connecting rod' and is provided with a threaded take-up stem 14, on which are mounted adjusting nut 15 and lock nut 16, the nut 15 bearin against a washer 17 engaging the side of 51c connecting rod. The wedge is ordinarily slotted as at 18 (Fig. 2) for a retaining pin 19. In a bearing of this sort it is necessary that the bearing elements be ke t tightl pressed against the wrist pin. is 1s e reason for the wedge take-up. But if the bearing elements are made of the usual copper alloy (some such composition being necessary in order that they may have the necessa lubricating properties) it is very difiicidt to keep the bearing tight around the wrist pin. This is due less to the friction between the wrist pin and the bearing elements, the friction being relatively inconsiderable, than to the constant pulling and pushing of the wrist pin firston one bearing element and then on the other resulting from the reciprocatory movements of the connecting rod and cross head. These longitudinally exerted stresses againstthe bearing are very great and tend to crush the bearing elements causing their edges in contact with the connecting rod to wear and slou h 05. As soon as any looseness develops t e impacts of the wrist pin against the bearing elements e slight rotary movements of the bearing result in an overheating of the 1,516,914 UNl-TEDY STATES PATENT oFFlca.

bearing elements which is very destructive.

In accordance with ourinvention, the body 20 of the bearing element, instead of being made of the cop er alloy above referred to, commonly own as bearing metal, is composed of a much tou her, harder metal, and in order to give the aring element the necessary lubricating pro erties there is united to the body 20 a us ing 21 which may be composed of the copper alloy above referred to.

In manufacturing one of these bearing elements one first casts the bearing meta (preferably 80% co per, 10% tin and 10% lead) in the form 0 a bushing but formed,

referably, with longitudinal ribs 22 which all short, preferably, of the edges of the c linder. Thls cylinder is made a trifle sma er in diameter than the diameter of the wrist copper bearin y and 5% tin. After the body has been cast f pin. It is split in half lengthwise and one of the half cylinders placed over one of the dies of a die casting machine. The body 20 is then die cast upon and around the bushing. The metal used for the body-20 is preferably the ordinary die casting metal consisting of a zinc base allo ed with copper and aluminum, for examp e, a metal consisting of zinc, 7% copper and 8% aluminum. The copper content may be increased to give greater toughness. A metal of this com osition will have a melting point consi erably lower than the melting point of the metal composing the bushing. The latter will ordinarily melt at approximately 1700 Fahrenheit, while the die casting metal will melt at about 900 Fahrenheit. It is, therefore, feasible to die cast the body on and around the bushing. When the body has thus been cast upon the bushing the bushing is bored out to fit the wrist pin. Each bearing element is, therefore, in accordance with this particular method of manufacture, which may be varied, a little less than a half cylinder so that spaces 23 intervene between such members to allow take-up as the bushings wear.

The composite bearing element produced in this way is much tougher than the bearing elements made entirely of the co per alloy as heretofore used. It 1s, there ore, an easier matter to prevent overheating by keeping the bearing elements wedged tlg tly against the wrist pin. The r1bs 22 on the bushing, which are preferably of a dovetailed configuration as indicated in Figs. 1 and 5, and are referably though not necessarily shorter t an the axial imenslon of the bushing, as shown in Fig. 4, revent any breaking of the bond between t e bushing and the die cast body.

The bearing element of our invention has other advantages over the old tyge of device. It can be manufactured more c eaply since the die cast body may be formed accurately to fit the o ning in the connecting rod and with smoot surfaces so that machining is unnecessary. With the ordinary sand cast the outer surfaces must be carefully mac ined and this requires considerable time and. labor.

Our invention may also be utilized to advantage in the manufacture of journal box bearin or brasses. The body portion of these evices have ordinaril been madeof copper alloyed with lead an tin, usuall in the proportions of 75% copper, 20% ead and machined it is stood on end against a mandrel and babbitt cured in between the curved face of the b0 y and the mandrel.

In accordance with our invention, in the manner in which we prefer to practice it in connection with this type of bearing, a bushing 24 (Fig. 6) is first cast composed of an alloy of copper and lead, known commonly as packing metal, and consisting of approximately 50% of copper and 50% of lead. Th1s composition has a meltin point of about '1900 Fahrenheit; The ushing is preferably formed with bonding ribs 25 and 1s made of substantially uniform thickness throughout. The body of the bearing elernent, designated 26, is composed of die castmg metal and is die cast upon and around the bushing 24 by an operation corresponding to that described in connection with the manufacture of the wrist pin bearing. The bearing surface of the bushing is then bored out and the device is read for use. I The babbitted journal x brasses heretofore in general use in the journal boxes of railway car trucks and locomotive trailer trucks have certain disadvantageous features WhlCl'l are not to be found in the bearing elements as manufactured in accordance with out invention. The babbitt coating tends to crack under the impact of the axles whereas the packing metal which we propose to use is much tougher and more durable, while its lubrlcatmg properties are substantially equal to those of ab itt. Because of the softness of babbitt it is not ible to make the babbitteoating very tm. The babbitt is erdlnar lly not more than a quarter of an mch thick at the thickest point. Moreover, because of the manner in which the babbitt 1s cast upon the brass the babbitt lining necessarily diminishes in thickness toward its edges. For these reasons the babbitt soon wears out and it is because of this that the body of the bearing is made of metal having some lubricating properties. The brass must be fairly strong so that a compromise has to be effected between strength and lubricatmg propertiesI' In our bearing the acking metal used is much tougher than be bitt so that it can be made considerabl thicker. Moreover, 1t can be made of equa thickness throughout. Furthermore, body of the element of die casting metal, which affords the requisite strength and toughness, the bushing may be made to contain a suflicient amount of lead so as to give the bearing surface of the device the requis1te lubricating properties. In the old method of making journal box brasses there 1s often a taper in the direction lengthwise of the journal caused by a defective casting, and when the brass is babbitted the babbitt takes the same taper. Besides this, the brass is not always aligned with the mandrel with perect accuracy which will also defect of the sort noted. In our new method of making the journal box brasses, there is less likelihood of such a taper occurring, and if such a defect should occur, it will be eliminated {:y the final boring process.

e 0 am:

1. Abearingelementofabody by having the resultma' of lubricating metal formed on the back with ribs and a metallic body die cast around the same to'form an integral structure therewith.

2. A locomotive connecting rod wrist pin bearing element consisting of a metal body composed principally of a zinc base alloyed with copper and aluminum integrally united by die casting with a bushing member composgd of a copper base alloyed with tin and 3. A journal bearing consisting of a body of metal having a relatively low melting point and composed principally of a zinc base alloyed with tin, copper and aluminum, in

' tegrally united by die casting with a metal lining having a relatively high melting point and composed of copper and lead in substantially equal proportions.

4. Method of manufacturing a bearing element which consists in first forming an anti-friction member of alloyed-copper and then die casting thereon a metal body having a zinc base.

5. A composite journal bearing consisting of a relatively thin body of lubricating metal having a relatively high melting point and a reinforcing body enclosing the same having a relatively low melting point, one of which bodies is united to the other by die casting.

WILLIAM H. CROFT. ROBERT J. SHOEMAKER. 

